Table of Contents

Judges Notes

An inspiring prompt this week and some awesome stories. It was really interesting to see the different directions everyone took the prompt. I definitely had a blast reading the stories!

Honorable Mention

@bullishink – I love the narrator of your story. I love his voice, his take charge attitude and how he took a bad situation and made it work for him. The line “A man’s priorities shift when nature knock’s him down to size” is wonderful.

Winner

@DavidALudwig – David crafted a fantastic story here. It’s a wonderful take on the genie and the first sentence is brilliant. Fifty years on a tricycle with the same person is quite the accomplishment, but be careful what you wish for, right? WishBy David A Ludwig

With two people stuck on a tricycle in the middle of nowhere for two hundred years, trouble is bound to happen. I really wish that were some obscure metaphor—or better yet inebriated or sleep deprived prattle. But no, my friend Saya just had to make fun of the genie’s accent and mannerisms while we were discussing our wishes.

I guess Saya and I met when we were teenagers, both in trouble with the law and looking to see if we got in enough trouble we could come full circle and be clean again. It was sort of a quest to see if the legal world was round. Right away we hit it off, and soon we weren’t just inseparable, but untouchable too. I can’t say we ever made it all the way around to clean again, but when nobody could pin us down long enough to charge us we were living pretty large.

So it felt like Saya and I had known each other forever. She was everything a guy could wish for, smart, good looking, athletic, with a great sense of humor and more than a little shorter than me. Okay, so her sense of humor was a little mean at times, but I knew she meant well… Well, as well as I did anyway. The important thing is we never crossed each other.

We had a great time pulling heists, living freely and taking whatever the world had to offer us. Death could have come for us at any minute and I would have been happy with the time we’d had together—though of course I wanted more. Then we turned over this sheik’s personal warehouse and found the magic lamp, along with some priceless relics we used for target practice.

Saya was the one who rubbed the lamp, though even she hadn’t been expecting the face full of genie smoke or the stuffy gentleman in rhinestones with the southern drawl. I kid you not. A genie. Dressed in rhinestones. With a southern drawl. Even I thought it was hilarious—magical and spooky too—but mostly hilarious.

Saya blew our first wish on the solid gold tricycle encrusted with jewels before we realized Mr. Jazz Hands was serious about the wish granting. There was really only one thing I wanted, but in retrospect it was pretty dumb of me to mention it to an all powerful magical being my girlfriend had been viciously mocking. Our second wish, courtesy of me, was to be together forever.

At this point it’s my turn to take over pedaling the tricycle to keep us from sinking into the desert—hence my talking to myself while Saya tries to get to sleep on my back. We had a good run; it took about fifty years of this before we finally got sick of each other. Now I just wish I could figure out what the genie thought our third wish was and how we ended up out here with no escape.

First of all, let me say that our thoughts and prayers are with the families both in Connecticut and around the nation who were affected by this past week’s tragedy. Those recurring fears, the reminders of our vulnerability, are becoming far too familiar. Now on to the writing. My wife and I were fortunate enough to enjoy a vacation with only a few minor setbacks. However, Murphy’s Law has a habit of invoking itself. Give me your tales of humor or horror, share the myriad things that have or could go wrong on a crowded voyage.

The Judge

H.L. Pauff is a writer of science fiction and fantasy living in the mountains of Pennsylvania who spends his nights mashing away on a keyboard hoping something magical will happen. When he’s not writing, he spends his time reading anything he can gets his hands on, playing video games, attempting to run and traveling to new places. A few of his favorite authors include George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Michael Crichton and Ray Bradbury.https://twitter.com/HLPauffhttps://plus.google.com/u/0/117497931423702659320/postshttp://www.goodreads.com/hlpauff

The Prompt

With [three thousand/one million/two] people stuck [in/on] a [ship/van/tricycle] in the middle of nowhere for [seven days/nine months/two hundred years], trouble is bound to happen.*Feel free to replace anything in the braces, with a comparable word/clause*

The Rules

The story must start from the prompt. This means the prompt must be the first words in the story.

No more than 500 words (not including the prompt). No less than 100 words.

Any genre (in fact an unexpected genre will get you more points.)

Entries must be submitted by Tuesday Noon EST

The winner of each week's competition will be invited to judge the following week and post the winner's badge similar to the one shown here.

If your story would be rated R or NC-17 in a movie, please post a note to that effect at the beginning of your entry.

Judge's Notes

Rather a frisky bunch today, eh? Logic truly can ruin an otherwise perfectly respectable conversation, so I'm delighted to see none of you let it impinge on your stories (respectable or not). Welcome back to #MotivationMonday. Always a pleasure and honor to be in such distinguished company! -Rebekah

Honorable Mentions

Robin Abess @Angelique_Rider. Because "'We're through,' she said, taking a bite," might be my favorite story ending ever (I say as I smack my forehead for ending past relationships SO much less satisfyingly). The story is a little creepy, even a little gross, and a lot funny. Really great job.

Bullish @bullishink. I loved the completeness of your story and how you circled back around to the idea of logic. That may also be the friskiest description of a sunset I've ever read (dragon sunsets are notoriously violent, not frisky); your story is interesting and the writing clever. Your ending, like Robin's, is smart and snappy. Love it.

Winner

H.L. Pauff @hlpauff. Because the perspective of crayon figures is clever and sweet--but you took it to a whole other level by drawing an analogy between that and our own human wonderings about the meaning of life. The story is touching and yet deep: a work of art. Perfect.

Bunny and Brave DinoBy H. L. Pauff

“Why bother bringing logic into this now?” Bunny asked as her floppy ears swayed in the misty breeze. She kept her hand cupped under her small triangular nose to prevent the raindrops from going up into her nostrils. “I mean, look at yourself.”

Rain drops fell upwards from the grass and pelted the surface of the orange body of water hovering in the white sky. Brave Dino looked at his reflection in the rippling water and sighed. His small furry stick-like legs trembled and threatened to buckle under the weight of his thick and scaly upper body.

“There’s a plan for all of this,” he said, scratching the end of his nose with a claw. “There is a pattern to the madness. Even there, look!”

Bunny’s gaze turned to the sky where stripes of colors were appearing, one after the other. First, red appeared then orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and finally violet. The resulting multi-colored bar shone even brighter than the red sun wearing dark sunglasses.

“Why those colors?” Brave Dino continued. “Is it a code? A glitch in the system? If we could assign a numerical value to each color, I think we could –“

“Those are just random colors,” Bunny interrupted. “We are just pawns in a game beyond our understanding. Do we need to look for meaning? Can’t we just be happy? Just the two of us?”

Brave Dino’s eyes stayed fixed to shining bar until Bunny’s furry paw wrapped around his bony fingers and squeezed tightly. She greeted him with a smile when he turned his gaze away from the sky.

“You’re right,” he said. “I just get caught up in the mysteriousness of it all. I was so lonely before that yellow cylinder outlined you in the sky and you fell to me. I’m sorry. None of it matters as long as we have each other.”

Welcome back to Motivation Monday. Congratulations to all of you who participated in NaNoWriMo. Whether you finished 16,000 or 160,000, you have decided to apply yourself to writing. That is why I keep this contest alive. Anthology News: The lineup for the first Edition of Song Stories is nearly full. I’ve received enough engaging material that I have enough to start another anthology which I will announce shortly. For those of you who haven’t heard back yet, don’t fret. I’ve just been very busy and I’m still making my final decisions. I appreciate your patience. Now, on to what you’ve all been waiting for, this week’s contest.

I don't care if what you right is possible as long as it is engaging. Remember conflict, response, resolution!

The Judge

Our last winner NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison Rebekah Postupak. A rookie turned veteran who has already won this competition a number of times.

Thanks and welcome to our judge.

The Prompt

Why bother bringing logic into this now?

The story must start from the prompt. This means the prompt must be the first words in the story.

No more than 500 words (not including the prompt). No less than 100 words.

Any genre (in fact an unexpected genre will get you more points.)

Entries must be submitted by Tuesday Noon EST

The winner of each week's competition will be invited to judge the following week and post the winner's badge similar to the one shown here.

If your story would be rated R or NC-17 in a movie, please post a note to that effect at the beginning of your entry.

Have fun!

Sample Entry

System MalfunctionBy Wakefield Mahon

"Why bother bringing logic into this now?"

"I don’t know, perhaps because I’m a machine!"

"Look at your skin. Listen to yourself, talk. You were a machine before but you are definitely human now."UR12 swiveled his head, still uncomfortable in his new body. “That is not possible. The limits of artificial intelligence are such that even simulation of intuitive decision-making is unreliable.”

“How do you feel?”

“I don’t feel. I already told you I’m a machine.”

Eliza closed her eyes and touched his face. “How do you feel?”

“I’m… I’m scared.”

“It’s okay; everything is going to work itself out.”

“How can you be so calm about this?”

“To be honest, I’m not all that calm. The idea that I fell in love with you or you fell in love with me and somehow this happened doesn’t make sense. I’m expecting any minute now to wake up and find myself in the psych ward.” Eliza ran her hands over his face and through his curly brown hair. “Until that happens, it’s just you and me Pinocchio.”

“My name is not Pinocchio.”

Eliza’s eyes twinkled. “Well you are definitely a real boy… or rather man now.”

“I don’t like feeling this primary cabin is malfunctioning.”

Eliza placed her hand on his chest and grinned. She lay her head against the warmth and listened to the rapid patter of his heart. “You are not malfunctioning, you are feeling.”

“What kind of feeling is this supposed to be? I feel... ill.”

“I could spend a week trying to explain it to you,” Eliza leaned up and kissed him deeply, “but it would be easier to show you.”